Page 65 of The Beauty and the Griffin

An awkward laugh burst from me. “Notveryfrequently.” But I could guess what he really wanted to know. “The only other man who’s ever kissed me is my father.” Judging by its temperature, my face must have been beet-red.

“Truly?” His voice was a low rumble. His hands sliding down my arms left a tingling trail. I didn’t know what to do. Should I pretend I didn’t notice his touch? Or should I dispense with the talking, grab his face, and kiss him even though I didn’t exactly know how?

“I’ve never had a boyfriend.” My voice was too loud, so I lowered it. “I’ve never even been on a true date. I was a young teen when I started working as a nanny, and there’s simply been no opportunity for romance.” The Gamekeeper’s impossible proposals didn’t count.

He studied me through those ridiculous lashes, and then something like an invisible mask seemed to slip from his face and a shy smile warmed his eyes. “I’ve never been on a date either. At my eleventh birthday party, some girls ganged up, chased me around my mother’s walled garden, and plastered a few kisses on me, but my mother put a quick stop to that. I’m not sure whether I was more disappointed or relieved. Until you appeared at my ball, that was the extent of my kissing experience.”

I had to laugh, and the tension between us dissipated. “A boy tried to kiss me once at a party when I was little. I slugged him. He cried.”

Niel shuddered. “Girls are scary.”

We simply grinned at each other. Knowing that he was as nervous and uncertain as I was made it all right somehow. Yet I found the attraction between us impossible to ignore and still didn’t know what to do with it.

“You didn’t seem nervous about kissing me last time,” I observed.

He paused, appearing to think back. “You’re right. I wasn’t. But that was before my kiss made you vanish.” He glanced at the stacks around us, drew a quick breath, and offered me his arm. “Would you accompany me into the gardens? I think—Ihope—conversation might flow more easily there.”

“Yes.” I laid my hand on his sleeve, and he talked about the library while we passed between the stacks, although scarcely a word of it stuck in my brain. And when he opened a small door into a vivid jungle of greenery and flowers, the fresh air on my face offered blessed relief.

“This is lovely!” Insufficient praise, to be sure, but it was the best I could do. To further ease my nerves, I stepped away to examine the flowers.

He followed me at a polite distance. “I cross-examined the two maids who helped prepare you for the ball. They suspected your presence was magical but couldn’t explain why they didn’t ask how you came to be in the guest room or where you came from or anything else. They did tell me you were a lovely person. But I already knew that much.”

My eyes skimmed over a flower-bedecked fountain while memories and questions flocked through my head. “Hortense and Geneva were kind to me. I thought it was only a dream, so I went along with it and enjoyed myself. If I hadn’t been stuck in a mountain cave, I would have tried to research the time period as soon as I woke up.”

He gently touched my arm. “You mentioned the cave last time.”

I turned to study his face. “Am I talking too much again?”

“I find every word you speak fascinating, Beatrice. But I am afraid of somehow dooming any future we might have.”

My stomach clenched. “Future? How can we possibly have a future when you’re far in my past?”

I couldn’t read his emotions as he replied, “Instead of telling me about your recent past, will you share your personal history? Just be sure to leave out any major world events.”

I wanted to question him further, but the apprehension in his voice and eyes gave me pause. It was easy enough to share the basics about my parents, Auntie Bella, and Princess Eddi. I did panic a little after mentioning Faraway Castle—Was the resort a major world event?—and veered off into Eddi’s flying-horse races and engagement to Kai. But that also got tricky, so I turned to ballet, tennis, and language studies with Pearl and Heloise. Niel listened with so much interest that I dared to ask a question weighing on my mind: “Does the Queen Mother still hope you will marry soon?”

His chuckle sounded wry. “Mother frequently attempts to set me up with available princesses and noblewomen, but I fob them off on nobles and courtiers. I do have a few trusted allies in my resistance, including my cousin Arabella. I’m currently working with her and another powerful sahira on possible ways to freeze my age until I can find you in the future.”

His casual admission boggled my brain. Imagining complete strangers working on a way for Niel and me to be together in the same time period sent chills up my spine. “You, your cousin Arabella, me, and . . . who is the sahira?”

“One of Bella’s friends. We’ve put her in charge of keeping our activities private—which makes sense because, well, she’s the queen of merfolk in a large portion of the South Dynamic Ocean.”

“I met a mermaid princess once,” I mused aloud. “I was her bridesmaid. You call your cousin ‘Bella’? I have an Auntie Bella.”

Uncertainty plagued me. Should I simply relax and enjoy this meeting that couldn’t possibly be real, or should I be concerned? “Does your mother know you plan to use your magic to freeze your age?” I bent to sniff an enormous red rose, hoping to conceal my misgivings.

His answer only increased my concern: “No one even tangentially involved in human governance is aware of our efforts. In fact, my telling you makes a total of four people in the know.”

I had to say it. “Is freezing time possible? Is it legal or . . . or moral?”

His eyes were like warm honey. “Ahh! You value integrity. Few people do, these days. According to my cousin, the earth will turn and years will pass the same as ever. OnlyIwill stop aging.”

“Your people will surely notice if their king never gets older,” I pointed out, trying to sound calm and reasonable.

“I’ll need to use an appearance spell. You know, to look whatever age I would naturally be. And eventually I’ll have to fake my death, I suppose.”

He sounded so confident that I felt foolish for worrying, but I had to ask, “Aren’t you afraid something might go wrong?” I didn’t know much about magic, but I’d heard and seen enough weird things to be suspicious.

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